The Black Press and the Collapse of the Negro League in 1930

 

Black America at the end of the 1920s was a very different place than it had been just a few years earlier. The Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban centers of the North, which had initially been motivated mainly by employment opportunities in the wake of conscription of primarily White young men for World War I, had become more and more a quest for relief from the relentless racism of the South of the time. Even though the North was hardly a paradise in terms of race relations, it was widely viewed as having more opportunities for African Americans than the South, and not just economically.

Although the established Black communities of Northern cities were initially alarmed by the arrival of rural Southerners, fearing that lack of education, country manners and superstitions, and other cultural differences would reinforce White prejudices and make their own positions weaker, the arrival of the Southern African Americans created most of what we now know as Black American Culture. Certainly the Great Migration did result in increased racial tensions in the North, but it also created greater interest on the part of mainstream White America in the minority culture that grew from it.¹

The Northern Black press was put in a difficult position. As representatives of the established, more or less bourgeois Black communities, they had as part of their mission the education and training of the new arrivals in “correct” Northern manners. Part of this mission was their basic alignment with conservative African American leaders like Booker T. Washington, who urged patience and effort as the method best suited for gaining eventual recognition in mainstream society. As such, the Black press was full of stories of “successful” assimilation by African Americans, as well as emphasis on groups, both social and educational, that derived their patterns of organization and affiliation from similar White groups. This program of “uplift” obviously separated the Black newspapers, in many ways, from the real concerns of their readers, many of whom are likely to have found more appeal in “New Negro” movements that more radically demanded immediate equal treatment (or even more radically, economic separation from the mainstream). The Black press at that time continually struggled to balance the needs of honest reporting with the need to support African American advancement into mainstream American society.”²

As America in the 1920s began to drift toward the series of economic calamities that became the Great Depression, Black America suffered disproportionately. Declines in agricultural incomes increased pressure on small farmers to move to the cities. Decline in industrial investment meant a lack of new job openings to absorb those workers. Since much of the urban Black workforce was unskilled, they were likely to be the first fired due to any cuts in production. Clearly, the personal effects of the Great Depression were felt in African American homes before the actual events of 1929 and 1930 made them more widespread.³

The decline of individual prospects for African Americans is reflected in the fate of Negro League baseball in the late 1920s. The Negro National League, founded in 1920, had gradually declined to the point that in 1927 only its Detroit, Kansas City, and St. Louis franchises seemed viable. In June 1928, the Eastern Colored League’s five-and-a-half-year existence ended in collapse, with several franchises having failed and with declines in attendance for all teams.

From the ashes of the Eastern Colored League, the American Negro Baseball League was formed in January 1929, made up of the surviving ECL teams with the addition of the popular Homestead Grays. While this league’s first year was more successful overall than the final year of the ECL in that most teams played most or all of their scheduled games, attendance did not significantly recover. That same year the Negro National League was forced to shrink from eight to six teams. The number of games played by each team varied greatly, so much so that the meaning and purpose of league play was largely lost.

The collapse of the American Negro League in February 1930 confirmed the weakness of organized play. The Negro National League would not make it through the 1931 season before it, too, gave up the ghost. Attempts to form minor leagues—the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana League and the Kentucky-Tennessee League—failed. While some of the popular barnstorming teams continued to draw crowds and do good business, organized baseball was at rock bottom. Apart from barnstorming, other means taken for the survival of professional baseball included winter ball in Cuba and California and tours of the Far East.

There may have been enough economically viable teams to form a truly national league, but differences and feuding between the Negro National League teams and their Eastern counterparts, as well as the difficulties and costs of travel and accommodations, made this solution impracticable. With all of this bad news for baseball, then, how was the disastrous 1930 baseball year reported in the sports pages of the Pittsburgh Courier, America’s largest-circulation African American newspaper?

The Courier was published weekly and carried throughout the country by railroad workers, mainly Pullman porters who supplemented their income by distributing the paper. As a weekly, the content is more like what we are likely to associate with news magazines rather than newspapers—timely coverage of events was simply impossible. The role of the Courier, therefore, was more to comment on the news, and to provide coverage of news of interest to African Americans that was ignored by the mainstream press. Editorial policy was always unequivocally in favor of the complete integration of African Americans into mainstream American society, economy, and politics. Support for African American endeavor was also unequivocal (sometimes ironic, as for example, its support for the “successful” Hollywood career of Stepin Fetchit). It was extremely difficult for Courier reporters to deal seriously with failure in the Black community, so the tension between the hoped-for dignity and success and the disappointing reality of 1930s Negro League baseball informs all of the reporting.

The year begins with pessimistic reports about the ANL’s impending collapse. On February 1, Jim (Andy) Taylor, manager of the Memphis Red Sox (Negro National League team), delineated the difficulties facing the teams in an article titled, “Future of League Baseball Doubtful, Say Cooperation, Fair Play and Publicity Needed.” Emphasizing the business of baseball, Taylor argued that lack of funds was creating a situation where weaker teams were forced to play too many away games, creating an unbalanced schedule. Looking at the standings for the 1929 season, his own club played only 63 league games, while the more popular St. Louis Stars played 92. Lack of unified schedules meant that published standings had little meaning, which discouraged fans. The main problem he saw, though, was that the newspapers did a poor job of covering the season. Game results, “correct standing, batting and fielding averages” were seldom reported, even though the Black newspapers “are widely read by our fans.” Unfortunately, the Courier continued to have this problem all season.

Rollo Wilson, the dean of African American sports columnists, in his Sports Shots column of March 1 (“Another Baseball League”) reported the collapse of the American Negro League. In keeping with the paper’s central philosophy, Wilson emphasized the need for continuity and gradual development. “Thousands of dollars can be made out of baseball if the men can be uncovered who will take a sporting chance.” If the teams and the leagues were organized as businesses, there was more than enough talent to fill them, but if the organization didn’t appear, young players wouldn’t be inclined to pursue baseball and many current players would be forced “to show their skill in lines other than baseball and will be lost to the game forever.” He finished by reporting that the surviving teams would be able to pick up all-star-caliber players from the collapsed teams, ensuring that baseball would still be worth watching.

William G. Nunn’s “Sport Talks” column of March 22 picks up this theme when discussing the 1930 edition of the Homestead Grays. “This year, with the disbanding of the league, [manager Cum] Posey found it possible to get plenty of good material. He has refused to pay these real fancy salaries, as have other managers. No use, he contends, to keep high-salaried men, when you can get others to take their places at reduced prices.” With four future Hall of Famers, the Grays continued to be a strong team, and with their strength, they were able to be a viable business concern by barnstorming, with no league support.

Responding to all of the criticism about the collapse of the Eastern league, the March 29 Courier reported NNL commissioner W.C. Hueston’s impassioned defense of his league, particularly its financial soundness (“Our Baseball Players Rank as High as Any Others”). He pointed to success by Negro League teams in games against “all star” squads of major league players. He also complained about poor attendance, but emphasized that “There is only one thing left for me to do and that is to say, ‘Play Ball.’ This I will do on the 26th day of April 1930.”

Once play began, the Courier’s coverage was spotty at best. Some weeks there were several box scores from around the country; some weeks there were none. With no league in the East, there were no standings to report, but even the NNL standings were often not reported.

At the end of April, the collapse of the formerly stable Hilldale Club of Philadelphia was reported, only to be followed by reports of Biz Mackey’s return to Hilldale two weeks later. Nowhere was the discrepancy explained. (Much later in the summer was a report on August 9 that Hilldale had played its first away game of the season!)

The Courier, being a Pittsburgh-based newspaper, of course continued to support the success of the Homestead Grays, with reports even of games against semi-pro teams. As of June 7, their record, as reported faithfully by Cum Posey, was 46-3-1. The cheerleading for the star team couldn’t make up for the overall lack of meaningful baseball news, and Rollo Wilson said as much on June 21. “Teams suffer at the gate from the lack of strong opponents. Your true baseball bug never wants to see a lop-sided game. He wants his favorite to win, but he craves stirring opposition along the nine-inning route.” Clearly 46-31 against weak teams was neither interesting nor impressive for a team with Homestead’s talent.

The next week there was news that New York’s Lincoln Giants were now 42-7. Obviously, all Eastern fans wanted to see a showdown between them and the Homestead Grays, now reported by Posey to be 60-5-1. (Even with possible discrepancy in the dates of the reports, it is clear that the Grays were playing about two games a day!) However, Posey writes that the Grays couldn’t receive a large enough guarantee from promoters in the East and would thus not play in New York or Baltimore, instead turning their attention to the Midwest. By this time the Grays had followed the lead of the Kansas City Monarchs and begun night play under lights. As several columnists reported poor attendance at games on any day other than Sunday, this was seen as a chance to change the teams’ fortunes.

On July 5, the first Black game utilizing Yankee Stadium was reportedly arranged as a benefit by the Sleeping Car Porters Union, featuring Lincoln and Baltimore. Rollo Wilson said he hoped that Lincoln would be able to use Yankee Stadium regularly in the future. The next week, the game was reported to have been a great success, with 15,000-18,000 in attendance. Much later in the fall, though, when Lincoln was denied use of Yankee Stadium, it became clear that there was much bad behavior among the fans at the game, particularly drinking and fighting, which made the Yankees organization disinclined to offer the stadium again. Once again, the need to be supportive of the effort made Wilson and his colleagues unable to discuss the unfortunate reality of the result. In other places they didn’t hesitate to mention the manners of the fans, but with a matter of real pride on the line, the use of Yankee Stadium, they couldn’t discuss it at this time. (On the other hand, perhaps it wasn’t really a problem and the Yankees management was merely seizing a minor incident and using it as an excuse for something they wanted to avoid.)

On the 26th, in his “Ches Sez” column, Chester L. Washington, sports editor of the Courier, led the cheers for night baseball. Good attendance and “the long, sizzling hits, the brilliant, difficult catches, the bullet-like, accurate throws and the brainy brand of baseball set lots of bugs’ tongues a-wagging” about a possible showdown series between the Grays and Forbes Field’s “other” team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. He concluded that the Monarchs, the Grays, and possibly the Lincoln Giants represented the very best in baseball.

Praise for the high quality of the above three teams continued throughout August, but on the 23rd, there was troubling news that President Hueston, commissioner of the NNL, had moved to Washington to take up an appointment to a judgeship. While worried that it might signal trouble in the NNL, Rollo Wilson took the optimist’s position that from Washington, Hueston would be closer to the eastern teams and perhaps able to work out a truly national league for the future. (Of course, nothing like that occurred.) Indeed, it was reported on September 13 that the NNL was looking for a new commissioner.

As the season wound down, the absolute confusion in Black baseball was typified by the Courier of September 20. News reports of a victory by the St. Louis Stars over the Detroit Stars in the opening game of the “Negro world series” appeared on the same page as a report in Wilson’s column about a series between the Lincoln Giants and the Homestead Grays for “sundown baseball honors. This is the world’s championship tussle of Negro baseball and hardly anyone can deny it.”

He went on, “I have no interest in the matter other than hoping that the fans will attend in numbers befitting the importance of the series; that there will be no undue wrangling and that the players and managers will conduct themselves as gentlemen at all times.” This emphasis may seem strange since he had consistently supported and praised sportsmanship, but apparently this was becoming harder and harder for Wilson to continue.

“The thing I want most of all is for the spirit of sportsmanship to be glorified by these young athletes. They are to participate in a baseball ‘classic’ and I want them to be worthy representatives of their group during every minute of every game. If everyone plays fair the better team will win, the fans will be satisfied and there will be no nasty aftermath of criticism from the jackals who glory in dishing the dirt.” This dirt, however, did not appear in any direct way in the pages of the Courier, where optimism and support were the rule and criticism the exception. The intensity of this plea underscored the seriousness of the problems only hinted at in other columns and reports, that the season was characterized as much by fighting and complaining (on and off the field) as by the play of future Hall of Famers.

When the series finished, with Homestead the winners, Wilson continued the pessimistic tone in his column of October 10. “As usual, when Negro teams meet in combat there is an alibi for every defeat. To hear both sides tell it, the umps stole all of the games.” Wilson himself placed the blame for defeats on “heavy bats, dumb judgement, and dumb base running,” quite a contrașt with the earlier praise of “brainy” baseball often heard in the same pages. He also noted, “Reports reached me that there was dissension and constant wrangling on the [Lincoln] bench.” The series involved several problems in promotion, and many people who helped to bring it about were not apparently paid for their work. Although Wilson wasn’t clear on his role in the promotion of the series, he said that he lost money, time and “so-called friends” over it.

The shocking ending to his report: “As far as your fat columnist is concerned, if the Grays and the Lincoln Giants never play again, that will be soon enough for him.”

From our perspective, it is difficult to be too critical of anyone involved in Negro League (and independent) baseball in 1930. The social and economic problems of America were so huge as to be almost incomprehensible to us. They were merely trying to make a living in a difficult way at a difficult time. The reporting of that year of baseball also shows deep conflicts in the African American media over its twin missions of uplift, raising the level of African Americans, and support, insisting on respect for what had already been achieved.

That winter the Cuban Winter League would fail and the Negro National League itself would go on to collapse in the middle of its 1931 season, bringing to an end the first era of baseball organized by and for African Americans. It is truly amazing that from these ashes a much more successful league was born, and such great players had more chances to show their abilities.

DAVID HOPKINS is retired from the Faculty of International Culture Studies at Tenri University in Nara, Japan. His main field of research is comparative popular culture, including music, film, comics, radio and baseball. Since 2015, as Kato David Hopkins—his name since acquiring Japanese citizenship—he has been the main actor in Public Bath Press, a publisher focusing on underground music of Japan.

 

Sources

Clark, Dick and Larry Lester, eds. The Negro Leagues Book, Cleveland: Society for American Baseball Research, 1994.

Holway, John B., Josh and Satch. Westport, CT: Meckler Publishing, 1991.

Lanctot, Neil. Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994.

Peterson, Robert. Only the Ball Was White. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.

Rihowsky, Mark, A Complete History of the Negro Leagues. New York: Birch Lane Press, 1995.

Rogosin, Donn. Invisible Men. New York, Atheneum, 1983.

Smith, Page. Redeeming the Time: A People’s History of the 1920s and the New Deal. New York: McGraw-Hill , 1987.

Pittsburgh Courier, weekly national edition, various dates.

 

Notes

1. Page Smith, Redeeming the Time, People’s History of the 1920s and the New Deal (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987), 212.

2. Donn Rogosin, Invisible Men (New York: Atheneum, 1983), 87-89.

3. Neil Lanctot, Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 1994), 142.

4. Lanctot, 152.

5.See Fair Dealing for details.